(Originally published on newsworks.org 12/12/11)
It was one of the last days of fall and I was sitting huddled with Muffy and Buffy by the fireplace on Muffy’s back patio. The pool had been emptied and covered a couple of months ago, although we had hardly used it at all that summer because Muffy was trying to stay with her program of energy conservation, and the water had never warmed above sixty-four degrees.
“We all have to make sacrifices,” Muffy reminded us, in a tone of voice that reminded me of that unfortunate period in our lives when we were Girl Scout leaders.
“But I’m already using those hideous new curly light bulbs and recycling every darn thing in the house,” said Buffy. “When I put the trash out at the curb last week, there wasn’t even enough to fill a tall kitchen bag.”
“Do you ever worry about all those Starbucks cups, though?” I asked. I try to be a better person, but often a vision of all the Starbucks cups I have used in my lifetime appears to me in a nightmarish scenario that involves deforestation and sick panda bears.
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